Progress City, U.S.A.

I was extremely saddened to read on Blue Sky Disney this evening that artist and illustrator Dave Stevens passed away yesterday. Stevens, 52, had been fighting a long battle with leukemia.

A masterful artist, Stevens specialized in styles reminiscent of the 1930s and 40s. He reveled in the lost art of the pinup girl, and his drawings crackled with art-deco style and film serial excitement. He wasn’t prolific; a notoriously slow artist, he did things with pen and ink that most artists could not achieve with an array of brushes and paint. I’ve always been fascinated by artists that work in pen and ink; such simple tools can yield amazing results in the hands of someone as meticulous as Stevens.

Sadly, many might not even know of Stevens’ work, or what place it has on a Disney blog. In 1982, Stevens created the Rocketeer in the pages of Pacific Comics’ Starslayer #2. Over the next thirteen years the Rocketeer would make occasional appearances in print but his connection to Disney comes through the 1991 film adaptation, The Rocketeer. This film, perhaps more than any other, is the most underrated film in the entire Disney canon. Directed by Joe Johnston and with a fantastic cast and score by James Horner (portions of which are still played at EPCOT Center’s “Fountain of Nations”), The Rocketeer deserves far more attention than it has received.

Improperly marketed by Disney, and opening the same weekend as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Rocketeer underperformed at the box office and plans for a sequel were scuttled. This was a character that deserved a franchise, and one of my personal obsessions is the idea of creating a ride based on the film for the Hollywood Studios park. Oh, what one could do with a KUKA robocoaster and The Rocketeer…

Unfortunately, Stevens rarely returned to the character himself, and plans to continue the Rocketeer’s adventures after 1995 never came to fruition. We only have a handful of stories scattered amongst different publishers by which to remember Cliff Secord, the Rocketeer. Thankfully Stevens himself continued to work, but not on comic projects. Mostly it seems he spent recent years doing art by commission, and selling his famous pinups at comic shows across the country. Perhaps someday the Rocketeer will continue in some form - it would be a fitting tribute to an artist lost far before his time.

Read an excellent remembrance of Stevens at The Beat
Contribute to the American Cancer Society, because… screw cancer.
More at The Comics Reporter

UPDATE: Thanks to Pat in the comments, who pointed out that Stevens’ mother has requested that fans donate to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation.

Hello everyone, sorry for the general lack of anything around these parts lately…

I have our first Progress City television alert today…

This weekend Turner Classic Movies is showing two Disney films back to back - The Black Hole at 2:30 PM EST and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at 4:15 PM EST. 20,000 Leagues is a well known classic Disney adventure, and while The Black Hole comes from a later and far more troubled era in Disney corporate history, it’s still worth a look. Both films contain work from Disney design legends; Harper Goff was a key member of Walt’s design staff and was responsible for creating Captain Nemo’s Nautilus while Imagineer George McGinnis worked on the robot character design for The Black Hole. Matte artist extraordinaire Peter Ellenshaw contributed to both films, providing the fantastic production design for The Black Hole.

The films are thematically similar, with The Black Hole essentially a combination of 20,000 Leagues and Heart of Darkness with a dash of 2001 for flavor. 20,000 Leagues, based on Jules Verne’s book, is a classic of Victorian science fiction and spiritual forefather of the steampunk movement. The Black Hole combines the feel of Verne with the aesthetic of Star Wars; the film’s U.S.S. Cygnus is essentially a spaceborne Victorian Crystal Palace.

So pop some poppin’ corn and spend your Saturday afternoon with these two Disney sci-fi works. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea features a fantastic cast (James Mason and Kirk Douglas devouring the screen together) and visual work that must have been astounding in 1954 as it remains impressive today. The Black Hole also sports a worthy cast - and Roddy McDowell as a robot - and despite its problems with story, character and thematic inconsistency, it remains an interesting piece of work. Besides, Maximillian the robot horrified me as a child and remains an sadly overlooked member of Disney’s villainous pantheon.

Check them out…

Update: Jim Fanning points out on his blog something that I hate that I didn’t think to discuss - the fact that these uncut, letterboxed films are being shown commercial free on TCM, not the Disney Channel. TCM has actually been showing a lot of classic Disney live-action films recently; need I point out that the Disney Channel hasn’t been showing anything actually Disney at all?

While I continue to futz around working on some story ideas, the tubed interwebs thankfully continue to produce stories of interest and worthy of linkage. Here are a few for your late-weekend perusal.

First, I’m glad to report that EPCOT Central seems to be up and blogging again. These folks are die-hard EPCOT traditionalists like myself, and I’m glad that there are people out there keeping Disney’s feet to the fire concerning the park’s current lack of unifying purpose. A few recent pieces of note:

- A story about management dropping the ball on EPCOT’s 25th anniversary last year. I was fortunate to be able to make it down for the celebration and, while the fan organizers did a magnificent job setting things up, they shouldn’t have had to. I’ve been planning a series for the site entitled “Why Won’t Disney Take My Money?” and one of the first of these will be about EPCOT’s 25th. It’s shocking to me that, as a fanbase, Disney fans practically have to beg corporate to be recognized and catered to. It has to be a fairly unique situation - rabid, dedicated fans that are sneered at by the company they seek to celebrate. It’s reached the stage of an abusive relationship and Disney really needs to get their act together on this front.

- A story about the necessity of criticism and the need to hold management’s feet to the fire concerning the revitalization of EPCOT. I link to this post because it makes almost verbatim an argument I’ve been making for years:

Disney is a company that needs to make money. It’s a for-profit company. It needs to grow revenue and income. Those are also common explanations. To that, I counter that only by offering something truly revolutionary, truly out of the ordinary, can a company grow for the long term. Walt Disney knew that, that’s why he was never content to continue doing what had made him successful. An artistically driven company like Disney has to take risks, and if that turns the stomach of its top managers, why did they get into this game in the first place.

Disney is filled these days with people who got into it for one key reason: to make money for themselves. That’s not a bad motivator, I have no qualm with that. But they wanted to make money fast, to do it the easy way. With projects like ABC’s flagging ratings, the theme-park design fiascoes and the death of traditional animation, they’re learning the lesson the hard way. It’s not about the quick buck, it’s about the long haul. It’s about doing what’s right.

People forget that Walt did things the right way and made a lot of money. You don’t have to sell your soul for a profitable company, but you might have to obsess a little less about the quarterly reports. The Disney Frontier blog agrees.

- A story about the fact that despite the departure of Eisner, Pressler and Stainton, all is not well at Disney. While I mostly approve of Iger’s moves lately, he’s still a corporate guy with no real Disney allegiance. The Disney loyalists in the company, like Lasseter, are mostly Disneyland-obsessed and so the Florida property continues to be ignored and looted and - even worse - sold off piecemeal. No one seems to grasp the philosophy under which the Florida property was purchased and organized and so, slowly, irreparable damage is being done. More interestingly, the author suggests EPCOT as a new branding strategy for Disney to reach audiences immune to the charms of Hannah Montana and I think it’s a brilliant idea. If someone at Team Disney had an ounce of gumption they’d look into this ASAP.

More from this great blog in future updates.

A few interesting facts about Adventureland.

Euro Disney continues its economic turnaround as it announces a twenty percent increase in first quarter revenues. The resort, which hasn’t operated at a profit since 2001, has had seven consecutive quarters of revenue growth. The increase in attendance, hotel occupancy, and per-guest spending is attributed - shockingly! - to the addition of new attractions (gasp!). This will presumably only continue as the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opens at Disney Studios Paris this month. Hopefully this innovative new strategy of “adding new things” will continue, making the Disney Studios worth visiting and refreshing the long-stagnant Disneyland Paris itself.

Apparently actress Suzanne Pleshette died last weekend while I was off in the mountains and “off the grid”. I learn this from Isn’t Life Terrible, which posted a tribute to Pleshette last week. While the she had a large body of work, I of course grew up knowing her from her work at Disney.

Pleshette starred in four live-action films for Disney over the years; these included The Ugly Dachshund, Blackbeard’s Ghost, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, and The Shaggy D.A.. While two of these I never saw as a child, and even as a kid I knew The Shaggy D.A. wasn’t very good, I was an enormous fan of The Ugly Dachshund. My brother and I were fairly obsessed with the film, watching it over and over as only fanboy kids can. Pleshette starred, as she would in two of her other Disney films, opposite Dean Jones - himself another childhood obsession. Jones, alongside Han Solo and Cary Grant, made up a weird childhood trifecta of male role models and embodied all that was cool, mod and hip and provided a worthy subject for emulation. Pairing Jones with the ultra-foxy Pleshette provided a Disney power couple par excellence.

Check out the tribute via the link for some interesting facts about Pleshette’s career and time at Disney, as well as some words about her role in 40 Pounds of Trouble. This film is definitely an oddity - a Universal picture featuring extensive footage shot within Disneyland itself. Definitely surreal, and a great time capsule of Disneyland itself.

Finally, wrapping things up, is my dear and beloved Tina Fey. Have a great Sunday!

Jim Fanning over at Tulgey Wood jogged my memory by posting an article he had written about the old Disney Christmas special “From All Of Us To All Of You”. The special, which first aired on Walt Disney Presents in 1958, featured Jiminy Cricket as Master of Ceremonies as he introduced a series of holiday-themed clips from Disney features and shorts. Newly produced animation linked the shorts and featured Cricket, Tinkerbell, and Mickey Mouse as a very enthusiastic one-man orchestra.

Much like Disney’s Halloween Treat, this program was re-aired regularly for years afterward back in the days when Disney actually tried to air Disney-related programming. Parts of it were re-sourced for a Disney Channel special in the early 1980’s and a later home video release. It was also shown on syndicated re-runs of the Disney anthology program, where it became a staple of my childhood. In fact, all these years later the theme song tends to run through my mind during the holidays. Any chance this might show up on the Disney Channel this year? Nah, I didn’t think so…

Here’s our emcee Jiminy Cricket singing the theme for the special. Happy holidays, everyone!

It was seventy years ago today, on November 21st, 1937, that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at Hollywood’s Carthay Circle Theatre. Many of Hollywood’s royalty were in attendance that evening, but mixed among them were the anonymous and unknown animators who had struggled to create the film. As they watched the audience watch the film unspool, they realized that they had succeeded in achieving what many had claimed was impossible - the creation of a feature-length animated feature that would engage and affect audiences as much as a live action film.

Disney fans probably know all the stories and what was at stake; every ounce of the studio’s resources had been sunk into the film. Walt himself had mortgaged his home; he constantly struggled to find additional funding as the film’s budget skyrocketed from the original $500,000 to a then-astonishing $1,500,000. While not everyone echoed the sentiments of those who referred to the film as “Disney’s folly”, few could probably have anticipated the massive public response that followed Snow White’s release.

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